Warren man charged with leaving puppies locked in hot car

Tuesday

Aug 12, 2014 at 6:00 AMAug 12, 2014 at 1:51 PM

By Kim Ring TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

EAST BROOKFIELD — A Warren man was ordered held on $500 bail on eight counts of animal cruelty and a gun charge after the animal control officer found seven puppies locked in a hot car at his residence in late July.

Charles Tenerowicz, 69, of 1034 East Road was arraigned Monday in Western Worcester District Court. Judge Maura McCarthy set bail at $500 despite a request from Assistant District Attorney Michael Luzzo for $7,500 bail.

According to court documents, neighbors called animal control after a dog began wandering the neighborhood eating trash. The animal control officer, Sara Prideaux, went to the home on July 24 and one of the callers walked her to the area where he had seen the dog. She discovered, among piles of trash and broken-down vehicles, a thin gray and white dog guarding a car.

The car doors were locked and chained closed and two windows were open less than an inch, Ms. Prideaux wrote in her report. Seeing the puppies inside, the neighbor began pulling on the door until it opened enough for the chain to be released so the puppies could be freed.

"The stench of urine was overwhelming to the point of being unable to breathe, maggots littered the floor of the car ... there was no food and no sign of water," she wrote.

Using a cellphone app, the temperature inside the car was determined to be 110 degrees, she wrote. The puppies were panting and weak and required cooling; one needed fluids, her report states. Neighbors said they had not seen the homeowner for about a week.

After having the dogs in her custody for a few days, Ms. Prideaux wrote that they had been expelling "metal, hunks of car seat cushion and trash and tin foil bits ... showing what their diet was consisting of." The puppies and their mother will be placed for adoption through area shelters, according to the Animal Control Facebook page.

Mr. Tenerowicz was not on the property and could not be found when police went to the residence at 1034 East Road after reading Ms. Prideaux's report to arrest him.

As they searched the home fearing he may have suffered a medical problem, police found two unsecured guns — one loaded — and seized them, adding a charge of improper storage of a firearm to the animal cruelty charges. Mr. Tenerowicz's firearms identification card had expired in 1999, police wrote.

Mr. Tenerowicz also has been charged in the past with animal cruelty and fighting animals, the report states.